Use of scheme debit cards to make payments is growing quickly once more, perhaps fuelled by the need for a MasterCard- or Visa-branded card to make purchases online.
Monthly data produced by the Reserve Bank of Australia shows that scheme debit cards accounted for 31.0 per cent of all debit card payments in August 2012, a rise of more than three percentage points since the start of the year.
20121015 scheme debit chart
The decision by Woolworths two years ago to reject the use of scheme debit cards across its two credit card scheme payment networks has put a dent in its previously steady rise in the share of payments made using this form of card.
This trend is partly the result of a secular shift from credit cards to debit cards for payments, which is connected to the global financial shock, as well as the marketing efforts of the two credit card schemes and the major banks.
The recent trend may highlight the challenge faced by the Eftpos scheme in repositioning the Australian banking industry's proprietary payment card brand.
Some of the minor rise in the share of scheme debit cards in August will be due to the reversal of Woolworths block on this payment option, though most supermarkets and other shops owned by Woolworths did not begin to accept scheme debit cards until last month.
Mike Ebstein, of MWE Consulting, said in his regular report on the RBA's payment cards data, that the market share of debit cards as a percentage of all card-based payments now exceeds 40 per cent.
"In the twelve months to August 2007, the gap between debit and credit in share of value of purchases was 24.0 per cent," Ebstein wrote.
"In this latest twelve months, that differential had reduced to 8.4 per cent. On current indications, debit will overtake personal credit in share around the end of 2013."